Number: 2003-015-2-500
Title: Terminology, quantities and units concerning production
and applications of radionuclides in radiopharmaceutical and radioanalytical
chemistry
Task Group
Chairmen: Mauro L.
Bonardi
Members: Zeev B.
Alfassi, Vladimir P.
Kolotov, Ren Iwata,
Geerd J. Meyer, Piotr
B. Robouch, David J.
Schlyer, and Leonard
I. Wiebe
Objective:
The current issue of IUPAC Orange Book (1997) does not cover exhaustively
the definition of several terms in radioanalytical, radiopharmaceutical,
nuclear and radiochemistry and related topics; many terms should be
improved and clarified. Radioanalytical techniques are of increasing
relevance in the fields of labeled compounds and radiopharmaceuticals
to be used in radiodiagnostics, metabolic radiotherapy, radioimmunotherapy.
Description:
1. Glossary of terms, quantities, units of radioactivity and
related quantities and their definitions in SI of units (and other obsolete
systems of units). Nuclide and radionuclide overview: nucleon properties,
valley of beta stability, isotopes, isobars, isotones, isomers, isodiaspheres;
nuclide properties: energy levels, parity, nuclear spin, decay schemes,
common and exotic decay modes, binding energy, conservation laws, mass
calculation, mass-energy conversion, decay Q value, recoils, theoretical
specific activity. Laws of decay and growth of activity and number of
atoms of nuclides, decay chains, radionuclide "generator"
equations. Natural decay chains, actinoids, superactinoids, other artificial
and natural radionuclides.
2. Radionuclide Production by accelerator, nuclear reactor,
fast neutron generator. Features of cyclotron, LINAC and other accelerators,
beam transport, targetry, target assembly, target cooling, solid, liquid,
gas targets. Nuclear reaction terminology, energy threshold, Coulomb
barrier, differential and average cross-section, excitation function,
thin-target yield, thick-target yield, saturation yield. Fission, fission
yield (as a function of mass number and atomic number), equations of
growth and decay of activity during and after irradiation. Behavior
of specific activity and activity concentration viz. flux density and
time. Cold, thermal, epithermal, fast neutrons. Maxwell-Boltzmann equation
of velocity, law of inverse velocity, resonances, Doppler broadening.
Thermal and fast reactors, reactor breeders. Photonuclear reactions.
3. Radioanalytical and Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry laboratories:
hoods, hot cells, master-slave manipulators, lead shielding, Pb-glass,
glove-boxes, chemical and radiation protection features, remote controlled
and robotic systems, decontamination, air filtering. Radiochemical processing
of irradiated targets and radionuclides: radiochemical methods, procedures
and chemical-physical laws of precipitation, co-precipitation, co-crystallization,
termochromatography, electrodeposition, solid-phase extraction, liquid-liquid
extraction, back-extraction, wet distillation, dry distillation, gas-phase
absorption, phase partition, solid-phase extraction.
4. Analytical and Radioanalytical techniques and features: adsorption,
physisorption, chemisorption, adsorption isotherms, colloids, and pseudocolloids,
distribution coefficients. Labeling methods: isotopic exchange, nucleophilic
substitution, electrophilic addition and substitution, recoil labeling,
in-beam chemistry, hot-atom chemistry. Hard-soft acid-base theory, equilibrium
and kinetic constants. Biodistribution kinetics, biodistribution constants,
LogP, uptake and clearance of labeled compounds in animal tissues/organs,
fundamental of compartment theory. Specific receptors, specific binding,
non-specific binding, specificity, selectivity.
5. Quality Control of Radionuclides and Labeled Compounds: Definitions:
concept and definition of carrier (isotopic, non-isotopic, hold-back,
isomorphous, iso-dimorphous). Concepts related to radionuclide and/or
labeled compound: carrier-added, no-carrier-added, carrier-free, isotopic
dilution factor. Radionuclic purity, radiochemical purity, chemical
purity, biological purity, specific activity (molar). Analytical and
radioanalytical techniques: radiochromatography, radioelectrophoresis.
Elemental analysis: Nuclear analytical methods. Spectrochemical methods.
Cherenkov counting. On-line and off-line detectors and spectrometries.
Radiation metrology: counting statistics and nuclear data analysis.
6. Interaction of radiation with matter: gamma and X rays, electrons,
positrons, alpha particles, light ions, heavy ions. Photon cross-sections,
stopping power and range of electrons and ions in matter (theory and
computer codes). Specific power dissipation (thermal conduction, convention,
irradiation). Radiation detectors: scintillation detectors, semiconductor
detectors, gas detectors, liquid scintillation counting, alpha, beta,
gamma spectrometry, ionization chambers (dose calibrators), others.
Efficiency and energy resolution. Calibration. Radiation protection:
shielding, dosimetry (obsolete units, conversion factors).
7. Fields of application: radiodiagnostics by direct techniques
(gamma camera, SPECT and PET), radiodiagnostics by combined techniques
(CT, PET-CT, fNMRI, fusion imaging). Metabolic radiotherapy with radiopharmaceutical
compounds, immunoradiotherapy with beta, Auger and alpha emitters. Targeted
radiotherapy. In-vivo short-lived radionuclide generators.
8. Exhaustive and updated list of literature, nuclear databases
and international/national electronic links.
Progress:
The project is progessing according to plan, and completion is expected
for 2006.
In November 2004, M.L. Bonardi was invited to present the Project at
the Winter Meeting of the American Nuclear Society, Washington DC, Nov
13-18, 2004 <www.ANS.org>
> Nov 2004 report update (pdf
file - 15KB)
> May 2006 report update (pdf
file - 18KB)
Of relevance to this project topic, a feature titled 'Radianuclides
and Radiachemistry: Their Role in Society' has been published in
Chem Int. Nov 2007. Part II published in Chem Int. Jan
2008 focusses on
the terminology in nuclear processes.
Last Update: 4 February 2008
<project announcement published in
Chem.
Int.
26(3), p. 23>